Mortality
by Amelia-Maria
Summary: The team is sent on a mission through the underground tunnels of Demon World. Yusuke and Kurama are separated from Hiei and Kuwabara, and Kurama is confronted by Yusuke's mortality. Rated for swearing and some blood.


This is self-gratification. I wrote it because I felt like doing some Yusuke-bashing that was mixed with a little Kurama-compassion, and this is the result. Some cursing, some fluff, and definitely some squashed Yusuke. Enjoy my guilty pleasure.

Please note that some areas may be choppy, since this story hasn't been properly beta'd.

Disclaimer: Still not in the own-nation of YYH. Nope.

Read and review! :) It makes me vomit more stories!

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"Yusuke, _move_!"

There came a thunderous roar of crumbling rock, and a human – _too _human, Kurama was disturbed to know – scream, followed by deafening silence.

The dust settled, and the smell of earth mixed with years of decay lingered in the darkness of the tunnel. Kurama's eyes opened to the black surroundings, and he wasted no time in snatching the box of matches from his back pocket (_"You'll_ _need 'em", Genkai had said_) and striking one of the sticks against the ground. A pinpoint of light illuminated the cavernous tunnel dully, only to extinguish within moments of its birth. Kurama's adrenaline-numbed fingers scrabbled for another match. Once the weak flame was lit in front of his eyes, he felt it safe to clamber to his feet.

"Hiei?" he called immediately. A cold sheen of sweat covered his face and caused his hair to stick uncomfortably to his skin. The match went out. He lit another. "Kuwabara? Yusuke?"

Somewhere to his left, there was a soft moan. Yet another match lit up the worried lines of Kurama's face as he stumbled over stray chunks of rock and misshapen puddles to finally encounter a bloodied, _very_ human hand.

"Oh… _gods_, Yusuke." Kurama could practically taste the fear he was emitting.

The bloody hand trailed down to a pale wrist, which led to an elbow, which in turn led to a bicep – tricep, deltoid, collarbone, neck-

"Please… t-…tell me I didn't… cause the av-…avalanche this time," came Yusuke's strangled attempt at light humor. Kurama dropped to his knees at the Detective's side, the latest match having long since gone out. Through the dark, he could see the faint outlines of the human boy's body, and the pool of blood underneath it. The sheen of the crimson liquid and its origin was what threw Kurama into action. He started with the Detective's head, hands combing through the matted, silken hair and encountering a sticky area above the boy's ear. A cut. "It feels… like something's crush…ing me."

"You are correct," Kurama said so quietly that he believed it was a thought. His hands were stopped abruptly at Yusuke's chest by the solid chunk of rock that couldn't have been avoided in the dark.

"Heh… wh… where's Hiei and his fancy sword… when you need 'im?"

"Please be silent, Yusuke."

The rock wasn't much larger than watermelon. It had not fallen from such a great height that it could crush the boy entirely through, either. At most, it had rolled off of a wall and caught Yusuke as he was running on Kurama's command.

Gingerly, Kurama placed both hands on the rock and gave it the smallest of pushes. The scream that was torn from Yusuke's chest was agonized, and suddenly terrified.

"_Don't_!" he screeched. Kurama drew his hands back as if he'd been burned. "Please. God." A dry sob left Yusuke. "_Don't_ touch the damn _rock_, K'rama, please…"

"Has it punctured you?" the redhead asked promptly, placing a reassuring hand on Yusuke's shoulder while his other hand was left at a loss.

"I dunno. Just please… don't do that again."

From the wet-sounding gasps the boy was taking and the lack of movement from his legs, Kurama was willing to bet that a few ribs might be at stake, as well as Yusuke's lungs. If he couldn't breathe… Well, Kurama was not a justified expert at CPR.

He snatched out his communicator and felt blessed hope pool in his stomach when he received a signal. Kuwabara's large, frightened eyes were the first image that popped into the screen.

"_Kurama?"_

"Kuwabara, thank heavens," the redhead exhaled shortly. Yusuke mumbled something that sounded like his orange-haired comrade's name, and Kurama extended his hand to touch the boy's hair. "Is Hiei with you?"

"_Unfortunately. We're both okay. Man, it's dark where you are. I can hardly see your face."_

"The avalanche extinguished the lights in our side of the tunnel, and my matches are hardly adequate." Speaking of which, Kurama lit another of the tiny sticks and held that in one hand and the communicator in the other. "Can you see me well enough now?"

"_A little. Where's Yusuke? Is he okay?"_

Kurama cast an uncomfortable glance down at the detective, who was laying very still near his thigh. The hand he had in the boy's hair was already slick with blood. His match went out. "He could be better."

"_He's not dead, though."_

"Not dead, Kuwabara," Kurama clarified. He confirmed with the orange-haired human that Genkai was thoroughly pissed above ground and was sending a rescue team down as quickly as possible. And there would be no more listening to Koenma's orders when the princeling was having a bad day, either. Before the last avalanche had occurred, the team had determined that there was no stray pack of demon thieves in the tunnels, and that it was quite safe…

Excusing the occasional caving of rocks when one stepped directly onto a fault line.

"Kuh… K'rama."

"Hush, Yusuke," the redhead murmured, finally ending his conversation with Kuwabara and turning his attention to the injured human. He kept one hand tucked into Yusuke's hair while the other felt along the Yusuke's side with feather-light touches, searching for the source of blood. Ah, there. The rock had scratched the boy cleanly across the ribs of his left side. The wound, as far as Kurama could deduce from touch, was not very deep, and bled sluggishly. His main concern was the rock.

"I know what you're thinking," Yusuke gasped unhappily. "And I know… you gotta do it, but… Could you just…?"

"I understand." Kurama placed both hands on the rock now, preparing his arms to move and his sensitive ears to endure the scream. "Quickly."

"… Go."

With a grunt, the redhead forced the rock the side, and he couldn't even hear his own blood pumping in his veins over the animalistic, agonized, horrified scream that erupted from Yusuke's throat. The scream broke off into a helpless sob.

"Shh, Yusuke. Yusuke, it's gone. Breathe," Kurama coaxed, touching the boy's face with both of his hands, his palms dampened by tears.

"That _sucked_," Yusuke whimpered thickly. Kurama couldn't stop the grim laugh from leaving his lips. He pushed back the Detective's hair from his eyes.

"Can you sit up?"

"No. Don't want… My head feels fuzz… Fuzzy." The boy's words were slurred and drunken. Kurama could feel Yusuke's facial muscles slacken with the effects of a concussion. He tapped his hand lightly against Yusuke's cheek.

"Don't fall asleep, Yusuke. Not right now. Later, but you must keep your eyes open now," he said firmly. Yusuke cried out softly. "Is the pain tolerable?"

"…Unbearable."

"I thought as much. Hang on for a few more minutes while the team comes down. Then, you may sleep. _Awake_, Yusuke. Stop closing your eyes. That's it." Kurama slid a hand into Yusuke's hair again. "Just a few more minutes. I promise."

Kurama did not lie. Within fifteen minutes, the small team had been extracted from the caves, and Yusuke was delirious with fever. As the medical members of the rescue group lifted the dark-haired boy from Kurama's grasp to transfer him to a stretcher, Yusuke yelled and attempted to thrash away, his hand grasping at the air blindly.

Within the second, Kurama was on his feet next to the stretcher borne by the now-irritable medical technicians, his hands clasping Yusuke's face, fingers lost in the mop of dark hair.

"Hush, Yusuke," he murmured, leaning down to press his forehead against the soaking, too-warm one. "Be still. Just for a while, be still."

"Too dark," Yusuke wept, "Hurts."

"It is sunrise, Yusuke. No longer dark," Kurama soothed, trailing the backs of his fingers down the human's hairless cheek. Somewhere nearby, he could hear Genkai exchanging tense words with Koenma through a communicator supplied by Botan. The medics holding the stretcher were clearly impatient. "You will be alright if you remain still, Yusuke."

"K'rama… See you later?" the detective's voice was weak, trembling, but still managing to be lighthearted.

"Of course." The redhead smiled and trailed his nose across Yusuke's cheekbone, nuzzling him gently. Then, he straightened and gave the medics an apologetic look. Yusuke was carried off to a transport, his crumpled shape on the stretcher being the last thing Kurama's eyes lingered on before his line of sight was disrupted by the rising sun.

"You boys could turn a simple investigation into death certificate so quickly it appalls me sometimes," Genkai grumbled. However, Kurama could hear the hint of relief soften the old woman's voice minutely, and he closed his eyes as daybreak illuminated the hillside.


End file.
